Three people killed in 12 hours as Sweden records deadliest month for shootings in four years
Three people died in two shootings and one explosion in Stockholm and Uppsala overnight, bringing the total number of people killed in shootings to 11 in just one month.
An 18-year-old man was shot dead at the Mälarhöjden sports ground in the Fruängen district of southern Stockholm, shortly after 6pm on Wednesday.
Several children’s and youth teams were on the grounds for football practice at the time.
The man was treated by ambulance workers at the scene, but died of his injuries.
TIMELINE:
Stockholm City Council officials just over a week ago warned sports clubs that “people who take part in criminal activities” had been active in the area and had on several occasions “confronted visitors”, leading to police and security guards stepping up their presence at the sports ground.
“Innocent people completely unconnected to serious crime – of whom many were children at their evening sports practice – have just been forced to witness another reckless shooting in which yet another man has been shot dead. Crying children in football gear and very worried parents. My thoughts are with all of these children, mothers and fathers,” said Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Shortly before midnight, police were called out to another shooting, this time in Jordbro, south of Stockholm.
Two men were found at the scene. One of them was seriously injured and was later declared dead. The other was taken to hospital and was understood not to have life-threatening injuries.
Three suspects were on Thursday morning being held in connection with the shooting.
Then just before 4am on Thursday, a woman in her mid-20s died in an explosion at Fullerö, north of Uppsala.
A witness described the blast at the two-storey house to the Aftonbladet newspaper as “total devastation”. Other houses were also damaged, but there were no other fatalities.
Police told the DN newspaper that explosives were detonated at the house.
Two people were in custody on Thursday morning on suspicion of murder and devastation endangering the public, reported Aftonbladet.
Shots were fired at another house in the same street in a drive-by shooting in January.
Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT reports that a person with links to the Foxtrot gang is registered as living at the latter house, which was also damaged in the explosion. The woman who died is however just known as a neighbour without any known connections to gangs, reports SVT.
Police declined to confirm the reports, but said they were investigating potential links to gang crime.
An ongoing gang conflict, between Foxtrot leader Rawa Majid and his former right-hand man Ismail Abdo, has resulted in a recent spate of violence particularly in Stockholm and Uppsala, targeting even relatives who are not themselves involved in gang crime – or in some cases killing the wrong target entirely.
The conflict has already led to September being Sweden’s deadliest month in terms of fatal shootings since December 2019. Eleven people have been shot dead in September.
Editor's note: The Local originally cited information from SVT which wrongly claimed that September is the deadliest month since police started keeping records of fatal shootings in 2016. We have since double checked that information against the police's own records and updated our article. Sweden's deadliest month since records began was December 2019, when 12 people were shot dead.
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An 18-year-old man was shot dead at the Mälarhöjden sports ground in the Fruängen district of southern Stockholm, shortly after 6pm on Wednesday.
Several children’s and youth teams were on the grounds for football practice at the time.
The man was treated by ambulance workers at the scene, but died of his injuries.
TIMELINE:
Stockholm City Council officials just over a week ago warned sports clubs that “people who take part in criminal activities” had been active in the area and had on several occasions “confronted visitors”, leading to police and security guards stepping up their presence at the sports ground.
“Innocent people completely unconnected to serious crime – of whom many were children at their evening sports practice – have just been forced to witness another reckless shooting in which yet another man has been shot dead. Crying children in football gear and very worried parents. My thoughts are with all of these children, mothers and fathers,” said Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Shortly before midnight, police were called out to another shooting, this time in Jordbro, south of Stockholm.
Two men were found at the scene. One of them was seriously injured and was later declared dead. The other was taken to hospital and was understood not to have life-threatening injuries.
Three suspects were on Thursday morning being held in connection with the shooting.
Then just before 4am on Thursday, a woman in her mid-20s died in an explosion at Fullerö, north of Uppsala.
A witness described the blast at the two-storey house to the Aftonbladet newspaper as “total devastation”. Other houses were also damaged, but there were no other fatalities.
Police told the DN newspaper that explosives were detonated at the house.
Two people were in custody on Thursday morning on suspicion of murder and devastation endangering the public, reported Aftonbladet.
Shots were fired at another house in the same street in a drive-by shooting in January.
Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT reports that a person with links to the Foxtrot gang is registered as living at the latter house, which was also damaged in the explosion. The woman who died is however just known as a neighbour without any known connections to gangs, reports SVT.
Police declined to confirm the reports, but said they were investigating potential links to gang crime.
An ongoing gang conflict, between Foxtrot leader Rawa Majid and his former right-hand man Ismail Abdo, has resulted in a recent spate of violence particularly in Stockholm and Uppsala, targeting even relatives who are not themselves involved in gang crime – or in some cases killing the wrong target entirely.
The conflict has already led to September being Sweden’s deadliest month in terms of fatal shootings since December 2019. Eleven people have been shot dead in September.
Editor's note: The Local originally cited information from SVT which wrongly claimed that September is the deadliest month since police started keeping records of fatal shootings in 2016. We have since double checked that information against the police's own records and updated our article. Sweden's deadliest month since records began was December 2019, when 12 people were shot dead.
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